


Don't Fear the Darkness

by O-R-I (Writing_squiggle)



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Astronomy, Blind Reader, F/M, Fluff, Gen, I nerd about radio telescopes, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-10
Updated: 2019-02-11
Packaged: 2019-03-16 03:20:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13627500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Writing_squiggle/pseuds/O-R-I
Summary: Genji stumbled upon you, an astronomer unable to see. Drawn to you, drawn to the way that you saved yourself a chunk of the sky that you adored so much. His life beginning to intersect with yours, much like the ping of meteors streaming across the sky.





	1. Chapter 1

Genji grasped his side, blood and coolant mixing from his wounds. He gave a hiss of pain as his shifted his side slightly, his hand instinctively tightening at the feeling. He peered over at the dark house, figuring that he could always apologise if they find him patching himself up in there.

With a shuriken he pried the window open, slipping into the house, and closing the window behind him. His body went on edge at the sound of static filling the house, wondering if he’d walked into a trap. A tapping noise came into the room, and his hands shot up, trying to come up with a socially acceptable reason to be in someone’s house bleeding on their floor.

Genji’s words stuck in his throat with excuses buried deep in his chest then you just walked past him, cane tapping on the ground.

Confusion radiated from him until he saw the way you blankly looked forward, hands reaching out to touch the counters and move up to the window.

You gave a tsk, frustration spreading across you as you felt it was closed. That fuzz continued to spread around everything, filling everything with a haze that he couldn’t think through.

“If you’re here to steal shit,” you called into the dark, cane desperately moving into the air in front of you to find him, “You might want to know that I don’t have anything.”

“I’m not here to steal,” he gasped, hand still on his stomach, “Please, I am hurt.”

“An omnic?” he shook his head at that before realizing his mistake, verbalizing his no before explaining he was a cyborg.

That static swept over the two of you again and you just sighed, smacking him in the shin with your cane.

“Follow me,” you said, leading him into the living room.

That sound got even louder and he could pick up a faint high pitch noise that lasted a second before fading away into silence again. He peered around the room, see a case rest against the wall and a flicker of fear shot through him that a weapon hid inside.

All through this was that damn noise, it grew louder and louder to the cyborg. He desperately looking around for the noise and figuring it was coming from the speakers, wondering how you put up with them being broken. His entire body was on edge, nearly jumping out of his armour when you arrived again with a first aid kit.

“Forgive me if I don’t help,” you quipped, and he gave a chuckle before hissing in pain again.

“Shit, you really are hurt,” you said, putting the kit down on the couch before freezing as a high pitched noise rumbled through the room.

“Ah,” you said with a smile.

“What is that,” he asked, his mind desperate to find some sort of reason to all of this.

“That was a meteor,” you said, “burning up through our atmosphere.”

He just looked at you with amazement, never expecting that as an answer. That static that was turning his entire on edge slowly faded into awestruck amazement. He went back to wrapping bandages around his stomach, keeping the gauze stained red in place. You sat down as he thought about what you said, mind stuck on what he was hearing.

“How,” he finally asked, you giving a small smile at that familiar joy radiating from the cyborg's voice.

“It’s a radio telescope,” you said, “A rather simple one but it still works.”

A noise came from it and played for a minute or so, and he tilted his head, “Another meteor?”

“Nah,” you said, “That’s an aircraft of sorts.”

“The dropship,” he said, slapping his thigh and getting up.

“Ah,” he said, you just listening to him stumble around, “Thank you for the help.”

“Thanks for probably not stealing my stuff,” you said, “And not murdering me.”

“So long, Mr Cyborg,” you said, waving to the wall next to him.

“My name is Genji,” he said before walking to the door.

“Then goodbye, Genji,” you said, your head tilting back as the sound turned back into static, “Don’t get stabbed again.”

* * *

Genji peered up at the sky, those twinkling stars growing with fascination since meeting you. With a curiosity, he’d absentmindedly looked up a radio telescope when home, discovering even more and more of what they could do. He supposed that anyone would be fascinated with the premise of hearing the universe but there was something else.

You had latched yourself under his skin, and he didn’t know how to get you out or even if he wanted to.

Genji saw a trail of light streak across the sky, lasting no more than a second. It had absolutely flabberghasted him to learn that stream was a rock no larger than a grain of rice.

There was so much beauty to be found in something people would think is insignificant. Genji’s hands rested on his stomach, still staring up at that sky. Zenyatta’s head came into his view, a chuckle coming from the omnic.

“Lost in thoughts?” Zenyatta asked and Genji sat up, hands on his thighs, “I called to you twice, but you didn’t seem to hear me.”

“I’m sorry, Master,” Genji bowed his head, and Zenyatta just flicked his mask.

“There is no need,” Zenyatta’s voice was light, and Genji just smiled, “Tell me your thoughts.”

Genji just took a deep breath before he told his master everything that happened to him in your house, the way that listening to those pings seemed to soothe something that ached deep inside you. He wondered if it showed that he was lost in those few minutes, replaying them in his head again and again.

“Did you ever think about seeing them again?” Zenyatta asked simply but that question shook Genji to his core, the idea never occurring to him.

“I suppose I could,” he said, “if I can remember where I was.”

Zenyatta hummed, already knowing the cyborg’s decision. Zenyatta looked up as well, drawing lines between the dots in the sky. He picked out the few constellations that he recognized, his student quickly picking up the reins and the two of them made their way across the sky by pointing out different constellations in both Japan and the Western world.

Zenyatta felt his chest grow warm at sharing a moment with one of his friends, hoping Genji can find some more friendship with you as he clearly wanted to.

* * *

Genji’s head ached as he tried to remember the streets he’d stumbled down last time, he ignored the damaged buildings and the police officers walking around. He slipped into a back alley, for the first time in his life he was glad to see the mix of blood and coolant smeared on the wall. He followed that for a while, his pace picking up as he drew nearer to a more familiar place.

He practically ran as he drew to your front door, his hand quickly and sharply knocking at the door. He heard rustling inside and the door opened, you appearing from the dark room inside to look annoyed in the doorway.

“Who’s there,” you asked, “I’ll hit your shin if you’re here to bother me.”

“It’s me,” he said, and you just kept looking at his shoulder intently.

“I wanted to bring you a replacement for the supplies I used,” Genji said, the bag rustling in his hands, “May I come in?”

“I suppose,” you said, letting him in, “I mean you didn’t steal anything last time.”

You shuffled, and he walked in, making sure to make his footsteps heavy as he trailed after you. You led him into the living room, that all-consuming static returning to his hearing and his body relaxed at it. You grasped the bag and disappeared for a moment, presumably to put it away in the first aid kick you pulled out yesterday.

“Last night was a meteor shower,” you said, “There was a good chunk of activity on it.”

“What does that sound like?” he asked, and you smiled at how curious he was.

“You know what,” you said, “Come here the next meteor shower, and I’ll let you hear.”

“Won’t be for a few months anyway.”

“That’s fine by me,” he said, grasping your hand with excitement at the refound childish wonder.

“Remember to use the door,” you said as he shook your hand, “Don’t get any second thoughts about that.”

“I will,” he said.

He was about out the door when he froze, realizing he still didn’t know a very crucial thing.

“What’s your name?” he asked, a hand on your doorknob.

“Now he asks,” you laughed before telling him.

He repeated it to himself, his mind finally putting a name to your face. There was something lighter about the way you said that he couldn’t imagine you talking to many people with the gruff way you spoke.

“I may come before that,” Genji said.

“Fine by me,” you replied simply, Genji grateful that he wasn’t being a bother. 

* * *

You settled your body on the floor, the silence seeming overwhelming after months of static. Your eyes were closed even though it didn’t matter either way. The world just didn’t exist beyond sound and touch, that sky you loved gone forever from you.

“Ohayo,” Genji said as he walked in, not even bothering to knock anymore.

You gave a hum in response and he peered at you laying there, his fingers tapping a rhythm. His body shifting uncomfortably as he realized what exactly was bothering him about the room.

“It’s off?” he asked, “I didn’t even know you could turn it off.”

“Too much interference,” you said, “Won’t hear anything tonight.”

“I don’t understand,” he said, “What is?”

“You know how it works right?” you asked.

“Hai,” he said, flipping over the back of your couch to lay on the cushion, “When we use radios they go in all directions, even up into space, when meteors burn up in the atmosphere those frequencies bounce off the trails.

“Yes,” you said, making the cyborg pleased with himself, “Or at least the amateur ones work on that principle, the ones above that are more complicated.”

“There’s something called Sporadic E happening right now,” you said, “To make it incredibly not boring or confusing radio waves aren’t being allowed out of the atmosphere and are bouncing back.”

“You do that a lot,” he said, “You hold back in your explanations.”

“I was on the way for an astrophysics degree before I lost my sight,” you said, “I recognize not everyone has that training to learn the math behind things.”

“Just like how I don’t have your training to be a nuisance.”

He just ignored you, knowing that there was no bite behind it. He gave a bit of a sigh before laying down next to you, you shifting your hands onto your stomach to give him some space.

“Have you thought of cybernetic eyes?” he asked and you gave a bitter bark of laughter.

“With what money,” you asked, “Some of us aren’t quite literally made of money. I never got a degree and I’m still fighting to have my student loans forgiven.”

“I suppose it’s easy to forget I had help,” he said.

The two of you lay in silence, awkwardness settling over both of you. Genji looked over to you, seeing your face rumble over thoughts. His chest tightened as a small amount of grief showed there as well.

“I always loved the skies,” you finally said, “As a child, I’d sneak out my window and peer up to those endless stars for hours. I assume my parents got the hint from that and got me my first telescope.”

“It wasn’t that great but it felt like the sky opened up to me, I saw the phases of Venus, the rings of Saturn, the wonder of the Andromeda galaxy. It felt like a friend waiting to see me. It wasn’t a surprise when I went into Astrophysics, I wanted to know everything.”

“Then… then I got sick,” you said, a deep sorrow painting your voice as you remembered and Genji reached a hand out to grasp yours, “I don’t even remember what I had. It didn’t matter at the time.”

“The stars left me and I wanted to die.”

His thumb rubbed against your hand as a sob shuddered and stuck in your throat, his body aching to pull you close. You took a deep breath and squeezed his hand, the grip returning you to reality and you calmed yourself down.

“I’m sorry,” he said, “You don’t need to continue.”

“I’m alright.”

“I dropped out, I probably could have figured out some way to still do it but it didn’t matter anymore. I’d never see the stars again so I left. It wasn’t until later that I realised I could listen to meteors.”

“It wasn’t what I used to have but I got a bit of my sky back, even if it’s just a sliver.”

Genji rolled onto his side and pulled you close, you froze for a moment at his metal body pressed against yours but you started to relax in his grip. Your arms slid behind him, hands clenching on his metal back as you pushed your face into his shoulder.

“I’m sorry,” you started to cry, Genji rubbing your back.

“It’s alright,” he said, “It’s hard to lose everything, I’ve had it happen as well.”

“Mind if I ask what happened?”

“My brother tried to kill me,” he said, “The elders of my clan decided that I needed to be killed and he followed their order.”

“Jesus,” you said, “What the fuck?”

He just laughed at that, his body shaking as he laughed for a minute. You slowly got angrier as he just laughed, eventually smacking his shoulder.

“What’s wrong with you,” you said, eyebrows furrowed.

“I’ve never had anyone say it like that,” he said, “I guess it’s true.”

“I suppose with all this soul searching we can safely say we’re friends.”

“I suppose as well.”

* * *

 “Do you ever leave?” you heard Genji say behind you, you just ignoring him.

“Why would I?” you said.

“Because I’m scared you’d just starve in here as you’re unwilling to leave the house,” he said, you heard his soft footsteps against your floor.

“Nah, someone checks on me weekly,” you said, “I do actually know people.”

“Surprising.”

You just sighed, knowing that anything you’d say from now on would just encourage him. You took a step back, hand grasping your cane as you tapped your way to the couch.

“Any reason for this or are you just bored?” you asked, sitting down with your head resting back on the back.

“I can’t see a friend,” you felt the couch shift, Genji sitting close enough that you could practically feel his thigh almost brush against yours.

Your hands tightened, chest aching as you wondered whether you were sick. Throwing that worry aside you stretched, feeling the exhaustion settle over your body as it tense.

“What time is it anyway?”

“Just three in the afternoon.”

“Ah, what day?”

Genji burst into laughter at that, honestly unsure of what he was expecting. He told you with amusement, making you chuckle a little as well. A thought crossed through your head and you mused about it for a bit.

“Maybe I should get one of those talking clocks,” you said.

“You already said that,” he said before plopping something into your hand, “I took care of it.”

You trailed your fingers over the small egglike thing he gave to you, pressing one of the buttons and jumping in shock as it loudly told you the date and time. You blinked really quickly, wanting to stop the tears you felt from forming.

“Thank you Genji,” you said fingers tightening on the edges of the lock.

“This means a lot to me.”

* * *

 He peered up at the sky, seeing the stars twinkle above. A part of his heart ached of the clear adoration that you had for the sky, you describing the stars you remembered while the two of you lay on the ground.

He peered through the finder on the side of the telescope you gave him, making the cyborg nearly cry as you held out the old telescope your parents bought you. You instructed him the best you could from the couch; amused by the way he described some of the parts.

_“It’ll be upside down,” you said, hands thrumming a rhythm against the couch, “The image in the scope. It doesn’t matter though unless you look at earth objects.”_

He shook himself out of his thoughts, finding that they dwelled more on you than they did before. He held a hand on the handle and gently eased it into position with an eye peering through the finder.

He trailed it across the sky, referencing the battered sky chart you also gave him. He finally got it to where he figured it was right, the swan constellation Cygnus there and he focused on the head Albireo.

Something buried in his throat as he slipped his mask off, eyes pressed against the eyepiece as his trembling hand reached for the knob on the focuser.

His breath caught in his throat as he fiddled with it, slowly bringing the smear of black into view and his breath left him as it focused.

Two dots blinked in his view, an amber and a blue. He pulled away from the telescope to look up, seeing only one star blinking in the sky.

 _A double star,_ he heard in your voice ringing through his head, _a pair of stars that look close to each other from Earth_.

But they weren’t close at all. They were trillions of light-years away from each other on the modest end, their light just meeting here together in this one spot in the universe.

He felt a stab of affection for you, despite you not being here.

You got him to look at the sky, something he had never really considered. There was something humbling standing here, all those lights twinkling down at everyone on earth. Some of those stars were gone, burnt out many years ago.

* * *

You shuffled nervously, completely out of your league in this new place. Genji’s hand rested on your arm as he eased you around. A heat radiated onto your cheeks, the taste of salt in the air with the sound of waves.

“I deduce that we’re near the sea,” you said, hiding that ache in your chest.

“You’re right,” he quipped back, “I figured we spend enough hiding at your place to bring you out of it.”

“I prefer my own place,” you said, “It has all of the comforts of not going outside.”

“You’re going to wilt,” he said and you just mimicked him with a mocking tone.

You felt a pang of guilt at that, he was just trying to be nice and you just snipped at him in response. You rumbled through the thought of apologizing, the words never finding their way from your chest to be vocalized.

Instead, you just grumbled to yourself, you being steered like a ship by his hand on your arm. A slow warmth began to roll from his touch, making your hairs stand up in a way you didn’t know was pleasant or not.

“We nearly there?” you asked and he responded yes, his grip tightening slightly.

He let you go for a moment to open the door, you heard a ping of a keypad before it slid open. The sound of chimes rumbled through the air at that, your heart thinking for a moment of the meteors you desperately tried to listen for.

“Master,” Genji said and you realized who he had taken you to, “We are here.”

“Ah,” the chimes stopped and a deep voice replaced it, “Why hello, my student has told me much about you.”

“I’ve heard a lot of you as well,” you said, suddenly hoping that you had Genji tell you if your clothes looked good before you left the house.

“You’ll do fine,” Genji whispered into your ear, “C’mon.”

You took a step forward and Genji lead your hands to grasp his masters, your fingers feeling the grooves in the metal. The two of them helped you sit, Genji’s knee gently brushing your thigh and sending your soul out of your body to stream beyond the atmosphere like a comet.

You shuffled slightly on your legs, suddenly regretting that you gave permission for Genji to tell Zenyatta what you had told him. In your credit meeting, one of the Shambali was never anything you figured would happen to you.

“It alright if I feel your face?” you blurted out, nerves getting the better of you.

Zenyatta just laughed and moved your hands to his face, letting you feel the scratches and divots of the metal. You gave a small hum as you mapped it out, fingers moving to his neck before pulling away.

“Thank you,” you said, smiling.

“It is no problem,” he said, “Genji, anything to say?”

“No, master.”

“Just because you’re green doesn’t mean that you should feel it,” Zenyatta said and you gave a nervous bark of laughter, feeling a bit jealous of the easy way they talked to each other.

“You never said you were green,” you said, you heard a hiss of steam come from the cyborg.

“You never asked.”

“Smartass,” you said, smacking the nearest part of Genji with a smile on your face.

Your body relaxed then, settling back into the comfortableness you had with Genji. With Genji’s gentle easing you managed to hold a conversation with Zenyatta as well, enjoying your chat with the omnic.

The air around you grew cooler and Zenyatta stopped in the middle of the sentence, looking up.

“The evening star,” he said, seeing that the lights were started to come out.

“It’s Venus,” you said, peering at your hands as they clenched instinctively.

“I apologise,” Zenyatta said, “I should have known better.”

“It’s alright, I can’t hide from my pain forever.”

“You can but you’ll never grow,” Zenyatta said, “I need to take my leave, thank you. I enjoyed talking with you.”

“I did as well,” you said, hands slipping into each other.

Genji gave a sigh as his master left, a silence settling over you.

“You never asked to feel my face,” he finally said, a twinge of jealousy in his voice.

“I didn’t think to ask,” you said, “I just blurted it out now.”

He gave a displeased noise and you just sighed, exasperation settling over you.

“Is it alright if I feel your face, Genji?”

You heard a hiss as things slid around, the sound of metal on concrete before he grasped your hands and let them rest on his face. You gently trailed your fingers across the scarred skin, Genji giving a stuttering hushed breath as you touched him.

“I love you,” he said, your fingers on his lip moving with his words.

“You know I’m a handful right,” your chest grasped painfully with his words, suddenly doubting your worth when he had overcome so much while you had simply run from everything.

“I have two hands.”

You just laughed at that, figuring he would say something like a smart ass. You just lowered your hands, trying to build up the courage to reply on how you felt.

“I love you as well,” you finally said, “You just deserve more.”

“You’re more than what you think,” he said, “I want you, whatever flaws you think you have.”

“I guess I can’t argue with that,” you said, feeling Genji press his lips against yours and everything clicked together.

* * *

Your hand grasped Genji’s, the chill of the air radiating between the pair of you. With one hand he quickly set up the equipment, plugging in a small laptop into one of the satellite dishes Winston repurposed for him.

He had just managed to get the speakers plugged in when the first stream of light shot across the sky, the speakers pinging as they turned on with the fuzz of static.

“It’s starting,” you said, trying to hide that excitement you felt.

Genji just lifted you up into his arms, making you give a startled noise in response. Your hand rested on his chest as he lay down, swathing the two of you in a blanket to fight off the cold of the night.

You both just lay there on the cement, meteor after meteor trailing across the sky in the shower as the speakers pinged consistently through it all. Your fingers tapping the amount on his chest, drawing them across the metal.

“Thank you for breaking into my house,” you finally said, Genji smiling before kissing your jawline.

“No problem.”

You sidled up closer to him, feeling him shift underneath your touch. You felt his hot breath brush against your cheek, making you warm whenever he lazily kissed the corner of your mouth. He tilted his head up, peering at the meteors that brought him to love both you and the stars.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Decided to post here as well.

“Be careful,” Genji said, you practically feeling the way that his body shifted with the whirl of hydraulics that whirled from him.

It was a sound as familiar as the ping of meteorites in your life now.

“You be careful,” you retorted, your hand clenching on your cane like it was a weapon, “I don’t need sight to annihilate you.”

“Oh, you definitely don’t,” he said with amusement before shifting slightly, “Then keep care of me? There are a lot of cliffs around here, be a shame for me to topple over them before you even meeting the rest.”

You hummed, debating whether it was worth digging in your heels. But he sounded genuinely concerned, perhaps about those massive pits everywhere you supposed. The cold of the air dug into your cheeks and you could feel the sting of snow being blown onto your legs.

“Very well,” you sighed before holding a hand out and you felt his metal fingers slip into yours.

The two of you began to walk up, the air becoming stronger and more frigid with each step. You never wanted to admit but you the realization that if you were to step away from these crumbling steps there would be a good chance you couldn’t find your way back to them.

A pit grew in the depths of your stomach and you squashed it down. Genji would know that same hatred, you rationalized, that’s why he said it was for his own benefit.

That hatred of feeling helpless, it just grew after you lost your sight.

“I’m sorry you couldn’t bring your equipment,” he said, voice soft.

There was no way security would let you go onto a plane with a satellite dish connected to a mysterious box. Besides the fear of it breaking would be too much.

“It’s okay,” you said, the atmosphere definitely changing as you went up with the subtle hum of prayer coming from in front of you, “I’m full of surprises.”

His body shifted and you could tell that you confused him but you refused to give up your secret just yet. He instead just kept you walking forward in silence, you just listening to the sound of the wind blowing and the general rustle of the mountain mixed with the monastery seemed to be up ahead.

A door creaked and you inside a building, a different feeling washing over you. Omnic voices greeted you, your eyebrows pinching together as you tried to remember the differences of chiming in their voices.

“If you have a surprise now would be the time,” his voice was amused and you whacked his shin with your cane.

“Annihilate, Genji,” you said before plopping your bag down, “oh ye of little faith, I do have a surprise.”

There was a cocky grin on your face, something that he hadn’t seen since he first met you. You pulled a small box from the bag you handing the cord to Genji and he plugged it into the nearest socket. A fuzz began to fill the air as the screen turned on, bright numbers flashing.

You spun the dial, having Genji read off the numbers. As you slowly honed into what you were looking for a group of monks began to crowd around the pair of you, curiosity about both you and what you were doing swelling up.

A voice flickered in, slowly fuzzing out and confusion radiated off of all the omnics there as you just got smugger while waiting for the inevitable question.

“What are we listening to?” was asking as another flash of music, just lasting for a second.

“That’s the sound of a meteor,” with that Genji was back to that day you met, hearing a familiar static, “burning up in the atmosphere of the earth.”


End file.
